✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Kids
  • Benefits
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Benefits
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Opera

Pia de' Tolomei, Hackney Empire

On 10 Mar 16, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

The English Touring Opera present one of Donizetti's little-known gems, based on an episode from Dante

By CW Contributor on 23/11/2015

Elena Xanthoudakis, Photo: http://elenaxan.com/
Elena Xanthoudakis, Photo: http://elenaxan.com/
Pia de' Tolomei, Hackney Empire Pia de' Tolomei, Hackney Empire Joe Lloyd
Some of the most interesting operatic librettos emerge from the slightest of tales. Donizetti’s Pia de’ Tolomei (1837), for instance, emerges from a minuscule passage of Dante’s Purgatorio, later adapted into a verse novella. In medieval Siena, Ghino falls in love with the heroine Pia but is rejected. In an act of spite, he claims to Pia’s husband Nello that she is adulterous, a situation that seems confirmed when she is caught with another man and imprisoned. That visitor, however, turns out to be her brother Rodrigo. By the time the truth is out, Pia has been poisoned. Onto this relatively empty canvas, Donizetti brings his full mastery of the bel canto, with stunningly emotional arias and a rare sense of psychological depth.

For their Spring 2016 season, the English Touring Opera will revive this seldom performed gem, under the direction of James Conway. Soprano Elena Xanthoudakis (the Metopolian Opera’s Rigoletto) will perform as the virtuous heroine against the Brazilian tenor Luciano Botelho. Grant Doyle and Catherine Carby, who also star in the same season’s Iphigénie en Tauride, will join them as Nello and Rodrigo respectively. For devotees of romantic Italian opera, this will be a must see.

Founded by the Arts Council in 1979, the English Touring Opera has a mission of spreading opera outside the capital and to audiences that would not normally be able to experience it. Twice a year, they embark on a tour that takes in venues across the country. With a mixture of established repertoire classics and more obscure gems, they are treasured for their inventiveness, community participation and habit of discovering new stars. In 2014, they won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for King Priam and Paul Bunyan.


What Pia de' Tolomei, Hackney Empire
Where Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, London, E8 1EJ | MAP
Nearest tube Bethnal Green (underground)
When On 10 Mar 16, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £10-35
Website Click here to book via the Hackney Empire



Most popular

10 things to do this weekend
Things to do in London this weekend: 15 - 17 January
Keeley Hawes in Finding Alice, ITV (Photo: ITV)
Finding Alice, ITV review
Neil Patrick Harris in It's A Sin, Channel 4 (Photo: Channel 4)
What to watch on TV this week
  • click for more opera
    recommendations

Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

Romantic

Donizetti

English Touring Opera

You might like

  • ENO The Magic Flute - Ben Johnson and Devon Guthrie © Robbie Jack

    The Magic Flute, London Coliseum

  • Lucia di Lammermoor, Royal Opera House

    Lucia di Lammermoor, Royal Opera House

  • Nicholas Lester. Photo: Edmond Choo

    Don Giovanni, Hackney Empire

  • Iphigénie en Tauride, Hackney Empire

    Iphigénie en Tauride, Hackney Empire



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×